Prediction of seasonal water-table fluctuations in La Pampa and Buenos Aires, Argentina

The fluctuation of the water table east of La Pampa province and northwest of Buenos Aires province, Argentina, influences agricultural production in the region because it is closely related to the alternation of dry and wet periods. Sea-surface temperature (SST) anomalies have been used as predicto rs to forecast atmospheric variables in different regions of the world. The objective of this work is to present a simple model to forecast seasonal r ainfall using SST distribution in the Pacific Ocean as a predictor. Once th e relationship between precipitation and water-table fluctuations was estab lished, a methodology for the prediction of watertable fluctuations was dev eloped. A good agreement between observed and predicted water-table fluctua tions was found when estimating water-table fluctuations in the summer and autumn seasons.